


Don't Give Up On Love

by meimentomori



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coming Out, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 04:38:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15283818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meimentomori/pseuds/meimentomori
Summary: Keith hasn't talked to Lance at all since they got back to Earth, too busy with his family and pining after Allura to give him any attention.Until Keith's phone rings in the middle of the night months later, with Lance's name flashing bright for him to see.





	Don't Give Up On Love

Keith hadn’t talked to Lance in months. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to him. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, Keith liked being the center of Lance’s attention every now and again. There was something about it that made him feel special, loved in a way that nobody else loved him. Keith had Shiro, that was true, but their bond was brotherly and never once made his heart race the way that his bond with Lance did. He didn’t find himself thinking about him for hours on end, wondering if he was smiling and laughing. Making all of the memories that he’d missed out on, between his time at the Garrison and defending the universe, with his family. Lance hadn’t even asked Keith if he wanted to tag along to meet them. He had asked Allura, pestered her about it, was more accurate, but she’d declined. Rebuilding the castle was her and Coran’s top priority right then, and she wasn’t about to waste a second of it with someone who’d been pining for her attention constantly that she hadn’t even an ounce of interest in.

Which is why Keith was surprised to wake up to Lance’s name on his phone screen.

He didn’t want to answer it at first. His finger hovered over the answer call button, but he couldn’t bring himself to press it. With every pulse of vibration, his heart rate sped up a few beats. It was well past three in the morning, a time that Keith didn’t think anyone else he knew stayed up past. He’d been having more sleepless nights since they’d stepped down from their positions of defending the universe. There was something that prevented him from finding peace, lying just beneath the surface. What it was, he couldn’t know. Maybe it was the restlessness that came about with always having to be prepared for a mission, Keith ready to spring to his feet whenever the nonexistent alarm of the castle were to blare in his ear. Maybe it was the nightmares that hadn’t quite gone away, visions of the past and future that he couldn’t quite shake out of his mind. They’d found their way to follow him to haunt him in space. Who was to say that the wouldn’t be there for him when he shut his eyes now?

But the more that Keith thought about it, the more that he realized exactly what it was.

He wasn’t accustomed to being alone anymore.

For years, he’d fooled himself into believing that he didn’t need anybody. He might’ve even been fine with having nobody but Shiro back then. But after he’d grown so close to his teammates through Voltron, it felt foreign to not have someone to look after. To not always have to have a pair of eyes in the back of his head, to make sure that none of them were caught off guard by an enemy’s sneak attack. Lance had been the one to break him out of his shell more than anyone else was able to. He stuck by his side on and off of the battlefield, even going to Keith for advice when both of them knew that there were others on the ship who he trusted far more. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but Keith now wondered if Lance really could go to Hunk or Pidge with his problems or if they just made fun of him for it. He’d seen some things here and there, moments where all they would do was pick on him for being homesick or tell him to get over his crush on Allura, that made Keith’s heart sink. 

He pressed the button and held the phone up to his ear, knowing that whatever Lance was going to say wasn’t going to be pretty.

But he would sit through it all, if it meant he could make him laugh one more time.

“Lance?” Keith whispered into the receiver before he had enough time to second guess his decision, voice gravelly from not being used in hours. “What’re you doing up?”

That’s when he heard Lance sobbing from the other end.

There were words that he was trying to get through to Keith. Ones that came out more like moans and groans, indistinguishable muttering through all of the tears he could practically hear hitting Lance’s bedsheets. It wiped any hint of a smile clear from Keith’s lips, turning them into a frown. He’d never heard Lance cry before. Hell, he hadn’t heard anybody cry before. That was the one barrier that Keith could never seem to get people to cross around him, no matter how close he thought that they were. He hated the fact that everyone seemed to think that he was more heartless than he was. In reality, there were many nights that Keith had spent like Lance was then, in the very shed that he’d taken his call in. He hadn’t known why but, after being reunited with his mother, he’d managed to understand. This was a part of the place that had sheltered Keith for his earliest months, back before Krolia had left Earth to rejoin the Blade and defend the universe in her own way. 

So Keith would defend it in his, by keeping one of history’s most talented paladins from hurting more than he had to.

“Hey, it’s okay.” His voice was a bit louder now, though not loud enough to be considered full volume talking. It was hushed like a lullaby, soothing and sweet. “You don’t have to talk until you’re ready, okay?”

“Sorry.” Lance managed to choke out, gaining enough of his composure to keep talking after a few more minutes of sobbing. “I know it’s late but I didn’t know anyone else who would be up right now, and I don’t want to bother you but-”

“Stop.” Keith said, sitting up so he could stretch himself out. He might as well try to be as awake as he could, seeming as it sounded like he’d be up for a while. “Let’s make one thing clear right now. You’re not bothering me at all. I wouldn’t have answered if you were, so don’t worry about keeping me on the line.” Lance didn’t seem to want to pick up, so Keith decided to prompt him. “You were saying?”

“Right.” He took in a deep breath. Something sounded like it really hurt him. Or, someone, for that matter. “You know how I have a crush on Allura?”

Keith couldn’t help but scoff at this. “How could I not know? You practically hit on her every chance you got.”

Lance chuckled, but it sounded like he was doing so to cover up his crying. “Did you happen to notice when I hit on her?”

Keith thought about it for a moment. The flirtatious comments aimed at her had been more frequent the more often he was around. Keith had thought that it was just to make him jealous, when there was no way that he could’ve been. Not of Lance for getting Allura, anyways, but of Allura for getting all of his attention. Keith hadn’t noticed it at first. He’d roll his eyes and poke fun at him, just like the rest of their group would. He would be honest and tell Lance that he didn’t like her, that there was nothing between them that was more than friends. Even saying that was a stretch. But as time progressed, Keith found himself snapping back at Lance when he did happen to flirt with Allura. He’d say it was to get him off of her back, to get him to be serious during a mission, but the reality was, it ran a lot deeper than that. It was a jealousy that Keith hadn’t experienced ever before in his life. There had always been boys who were completely out of his league when he was younger. Ones who hit on girls even more frequently than Lance did, as if to taunt Keith with their heterosexuality right in front of his nose.

But there hadn’t been ones who’d looked at Keith the way that Lance did, who’d stayed by his side when the rest of the team wanted to give up on him.

“Seemed to me like you hit on her every chance you got.” Keith heard Lance sigh on the other end. It sounded, relieved, almost? “Why? Was I supposed to notice a pattern to it?”

“Nope!” Lance said right away, all of a sudden oddly chipper, considering his previous state. “Not at all!” He laughed awkwardly for a moment, letting it trail off onto a more serious note. “I’ve just been overthinking a lot, is all.”

Keith raised an eyebrow to the darkness, well aware that Lance couldn’t see it. “Overthinking?”

“I don’t think you’d get it.” 

“You’d be surprised at the amount of things I’d get.” Keith replied, trying to keep his tone from sinking back into its classic sarcasm that made it seem like he didn’t care about anyone.

It was hard for him to be good at communicating during conversations like this. He’d struggled with it more than anything, during his first time around at piloting the Black Lion. Back then, he’d thought about it as temporary. That Lance had only come to him because he was their new leader, despite Shiro just having returned. It was in that moment, as Keith had to try to keep him hopeful now that there were six paladins available for the job instead of five, that he knew what he had to do. Stepping down from his position had been the best decision for everyone. It meant no more awkward conversations like that, in which Keith couldn’t offer any more advice than his usual bluntness and a bit of humor to lighten the load. They wouldn’t have to worry about his rash decisions, ones that would only get them into more trouble than he’d already gotten them into. Keith hadn’t been the right fit at the time to be the Black Paladin, though it seemed like he might never be, from how things were going now.

Lance thought about it for a moment. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

“Cross my heart.”

“I finally got the courage to ask Allura out officially.” Lance said, heartbreak evident in his voice. “And I’d known from the start that she was going to say no. I’d been preparing for it since the first time we met her, but…”

“But?”

“I don’t think it was her who I was in love with.” He said, like it was the hardest thing he’d ever have to say in his lifetime.

This only confused Keith more. “How could it not have been her?”

“I had some feelings for her, sure.” He could sense Lance getting back to his normal self. The rhythm to his words was back, jumpy and erratic, just like him. “But there was someone else who’d been catching my eye since even before I knew her. It was like everything that I felt, I projected onto her because I didn’t want them to reject me.”

“Might’ve been in your best interest.” Keith couldn’t fully understand it, but he had some sense of what was happening. “I don’t think Pidge sees you as anything more than a fly trap for all of her jokes.”

Lance shook his head, mumbling under his breath. “You’re just as clueless as ever, aren’t you?”

“What?”

Keith had to keep himself playing dumb, in order to keep his hopes low. There was not a single chance in this universe, or in any other universe, that Lance McClain was into him. Just the way that he walked into a room screamed ladies man, let alone, everything else about him. Besides, they’d seen plenty of pretty alien girls who he’d hit on while they were out on missions. He could’ve easily been hung up on one of them, now regretting not making more of a move while he still knew that they were alive and well. Keith couldn’t even imagine how hard it must’ve been for Lance, if that were the case. Being close to the one you love and being able to check up on them whenever you wanted was one thing. Leaving them out on a planet that could easily be attacked any day by someone from the Galra empire was another. Realizing it now must’ve been harder than anything for him. Unless, he was talking about Hunk or Shiro. In which case, he didn’t have any better luck in pursuing either.

“Nothing.” Keith could practically hear Lance’s smile through the phone. “But, in all seriousness, what do you think I should do?”

“Simple.” He replied, knowing exactly what he’d wanted to tell Lance since he’d explained the situation. “Don’t give up on love.”

Lance’s voice lowered, turning into a whisper of disbelief. “Have you ever even been in love?”

Keith wouldn’t admit to who on the phone, but he was certain that his feelings towards Lance were a lot more than just friendly. There had always been times where he’d find his eyes lingering on him a moment longer, after which he’d see the rest of the team’s eyes focused on him, aware completely of what was happening. He’d asked Allura to pair the two of them up on missions once, but chickened out on it when she’d asked why. What he would’ve said if he could was that he wanted Lance to see him as something more than rivals or buddies or whatever they were at the time. That the bond they’d formed was close, but not close in the way that Keith wanted it to be. Putting his finger on what he’d wanted had taken some time, but it seemed like his brain and his heart were finally putting the pieces together, revealing the finished puzzled that Keith should’ve seen coming ages ago. The one person he didn’t want to fall in love with, he’d betrayed himself and fallen head over heels for.

“I think so.” Keith said after a while, checking to make sure that Lance hadn’t hung up on him. “I might not have realized it soon enough, but I feel like I might still be. It’s stupid of me to hold onto it, I know.” He could feel himself tearing up, but he couldn’t quite understand why. It was just another stupid crush, wasn’t it? A story that he would recall later and laugh about. 

So why did it hurt so much now? 

“I’ve spent months trying to read further into situations that probably meant nothing to him isn’t going to get me anywhere but, I can’t help but love him.” Keith wiped a tear away from his eye with the back of his hand, trying to keep his voice from wavering around Lance. “And hope that maybe, he loves me too, even though we haven’t talked in ages.”

“Did you just say he?”

“Yeah.” Keith said, thankful that Lance couldn’t see him shaking his head as he mentally cursed at himself for slipping up like this. In front of the him in question, of all of the hims in the world. “Is that bad?”

“No!” Lance reassured him. “Not at all. It actually makes me feel better, since the person in question for me is a him, too.”

“Oh, nice.” Keith tried not to let his jealousy through, but he couldn’t help it. Maybe it was easier when he thought Lance was straight. That he wouldn’t have been able to get him no matter what. But now, he knew that he’d had a chance. A chance that he’d completely blown. “Who is it?”

Lance fell silent on his end. Keith could hear his heart pounding in his ears, eyes snapping wide open. He shouldn’t have been getting this excited. Just because Lance liked a boy didn’t mean that the boy he liked was him. Keith had abandoned him for ages to join the Blade. He’d left Lance alone when he knew that he needed someone to lean on more than anything back then. It might’ve been the coward’s way out, to let someone else deal with him, but that hadn’t been the full reasoning behind his sudden absence. As much as Keith wanted Lance to be happy, piloting Red and getting the most attention out of anyone in whatever galaxy they happened to be in at the moment, he wanted to try to forget about all of the confusing feelings that he’d started to feel in his chest whenever Lance was around. And his plan had worked. He’d been far too busy with the Blade, going on missions and meeting his mother, that he hadn’t had time to understand what it was that he felt. 

There was always this thought that Keith had that made him think that he’d known all along, since he’d cradled him in his arms and waited for him outside of his crypod all night until he woke up, longer than anyone else was willing to. 

Only he knew it’d be selfish of him to confess when Lance was so in love with someone else, so he’d kept his feelings to himself.

But would it be such a bad idea now, while he still had the chance?

He didn’t have time before, out of the darkness came one quiet word. The response that Keith never thought would pass his lips, but one that he couldn’t help but start grinning as wide as Lance had at him upon hearing. 

“You.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Keith laughed, not even bothering to cover up the fact that he was crying. “Because that boy I love is you.”

It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders as he left the tears pour out of his eyes, in rivers bigger than they’d ever been before. Keith couldn’t think of a time in his life where he’d been happier to admit that to someone. To let them in on the most vulnerable part of himself, the one that he’d tried to shield from anyone else for so long. Too long, he thought. But in a way, his heart might’ve been holding out for the right person. The one who would change him for the better, make him into someone that he never thought he’d be. Krolia might’ve given birth to him, Shiro might’ve raised him, but Lance had shown him what it meant to let your guard down. To want to learn everything about someone who you knew nearly nothing about before, all because you liked the way that they smiled at you when they talked or how their voice rose and fell to the tone of whatever they were talking about. To want to stay by their side, no matter the costs.

Lance had taught him more in a few months than anyone else could’ve in a lifetime about what Keith truly needed to live.

And he wouldn’t ever be able to thank him enough for it.

“There’s no fucking way.” Lance was just about in as much shock as he was. “How long?”

Keith knew exactly what to say. “Since I cradled you in my arms.” 

“I’ve liked you longer.” Lance teased, but Keith didn't mind it. In this case, the competition was welcome. It made him sound like his old self, the Lance that found his way into Keith’s dreams, whether he liked it or not. “Since the Garrison, to be exact.”

Keith wolf whistled. “Impressive.”

“Would you expect anything less from the great Lancey Lance?” He bragged, making Keith laugh the rest of his tears away. “But there’s something more important. I wasn’t planning on asking you this soon but, might as well.”

“What is it?” Keith grabbed his pillow, holding onto it as if he were holding Lance in his arms. Maybe he’d get to someday soon.

“When can I come and pick you up to bring you home?” Lance asked. “Everyone’s dying to meet you. I would’ve invited you back then but I didn’t know if you’d say yes.”

“I hope it’s not too late to now.” Keith wished that he could control his blushing, but his cheeks were on fire. They had been for the majority of this conversation, but he’d only noticed when he’d moved his arm to adjust the phone. They were so hot to the touch, his temperature could’ve been mistaken for a fever. “I’ll be ready, whenever you can.”

“I can’t wait.” Lance said sleepily, yawning into the phone. “I’ll be outside of that shed of yours tomorrow, alright?”

Keith yawned too. “Sounds good.” 

“I love you, Keith.” Lance said, so quietly that, even with the silence of everything around him, Keith almost couldn’t hear it.

“I love you, too, Lance.” Keith replied, falling into a deep sleep without nightmares. 

No longer worried about the days to come.

**Author's Note:**

> i heard that lance had a sobbing scene next season, so that's what inspired this
> 
> my hand is killing me so please leave kudos and comments if you liked it! next chapter of talking is hard will be up tuesday! <3


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